Mice recognize how different age?

Professor Gary Beauchamp and colleagues from Monell Sensory Chemistry Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have discovered that mice can recognize older animals through the smell of urine.

This is a particularly important skill for this rodent, because it helps them to choose for themselves healthy and suitable 'mates'.

Experts have experimented using urine samples from reproductive mice in two age groups: group 3-10 months and large groups over 17 months (this is similar in comparison to those in in the 20s with a group of 50 years or older), then put at the ends of a Y-shaped tunnel.

When the experimental rats were released into the tunnel, it was found that they could clearly distinguish the two types of urine, indicating that the two types of urine had different components.

Accordingly, the scientists determined that in older mice, the levels of phenylacetamide as well as indole were much higher and it was possible that these chemicals were associated with a decline in the immune system (a factor that always accompanies age). old).

Thanks to this 'self-recognition' skill, mice can determine whether their 'object' is young or too old.

NGUYEN SINH